Bookholder



Nov. 7, 1967 w. E. BALLAS 3,351,312

BOOKHOLDER Filed May 5, 1966 INVENTOR WILLIAM E. BALLAS ATTORNEYS UnitedStates Patent 3,351,312 BOOKHOLDER William E. Ballas, 8037 Winona Ave.,Allen Park, Mich. 48101 Filed May 3, 1966, Ser. No. 547,220 4 Claims.(Cl. 248448) The present invention is directed to a bookholder.

Heretofore it has been found fatiguing to some to hold a book whilereading in bed or in any other article of furniture. Accordingly, it isan object of this invention to provide a bookholder construction whichmay be connected to the headboard of a bed or other article of furnitureproviding means by which the book may be adjustably mounted and retainedfor mounting a book or other reading material and anchoring the samethereon.

It is the further object to provide a bookholder which may beconveniently mounted upon an article of furniture such as a bedheadboard and which when not in use, due to its flexible mounting, maybe swung out of the way to one side and wherein furthermore the booksupport assembly due to its flexible mounting, may be adjustablyretained in any desired position for convenient viewing of readingmaterial.

These and other objects may be seen from the following specification andclaims in conjunction with the appended drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the present bookholder as applied to abed headboard fragmentarily shown.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the present bookholder.

It will be understood that the above drawing illustrates merely apreferred embodiment of the invention, and that other embodiments arecontemplated Within the scope of the claims hereafter set forth.

Referring to the drawing, the present bookholder generally indicated at12 is mounted upon the headboard 11 of a bed fragmentarily shown, but isadapted for securing to any other article of furniture. The bookholderincludes a clamp base 13 with a clamp 14, FIG. 2, which engages overheadboard 11 and which is suitably anchored or secured thereto.

The elongated flexible support 15 is constructed of a flexible tubematerial and at one end is universally mounted as at 16, such as by aball and socket connection to the upperr portion of the clamp base andprojects upwardly and forwardly thereof.

The elongated flexible cross-support 17 is also constructed of aflexible tubing material and intermediate its ends is secured as at 18to the outer end of support 15. End portions of cross-support 17 arereverse-turned inwardly in opposed relation as at 19 and are adapted tomount for universal adjustment the present book support assembly 21,which is universally connected as by a ball and socket connection at itsopposite sides as at 20, FIG. 1, to the free end portions of thecross-support 17-19.

The present book support assembly 21 includes the substantially flatbase 22 which has projecting from its lower edge forwardly and laterallythereof the book supporting ledge 23. An opposed pair of top and bottomchannels 24 are arranged upon the rear surface of the base 22 adjacentits upper and lower edges adapted to slidably receive the laterallyadjustable extension board 25 guid ably positioned within the saidchannels 24. Accordingly, the flexible or universal connections betweenthe book support assembly 21 and the inturned ends of the crosssupport17 includes suitable ball and socket connections for illustration whichare arranged upon the central side portions of the respective supportassembly elements 22 and 25, FIG. 1.

Suitable spring clips 26 are secured to and overlie the Patented Nov. 7,1967 forward surface portions of the book support elements 22, 25 andare adapted to retainingly secure a page of written material for a bookor similar object upon the book support assembly and resting upon theledge 23.

A suitable lamp assembly is designated at 27 mounted over and joined tothe base 22 of the book support assembly adjacent its upper end andincluding a suitable bulb and socket connection, 'FIG. 2, and employinga suitable wire 28 which extends therefrom and is enclosed Within theflexible tubular support 15 extending rearwardly to the rear of theheadboard as shown in FIG. 1. By the foregoing construction the presentbookholder provides a convenient means by which the book supportassembly 22-25 may be universally mounted in between the inturned endsof the cross-support 17. Since the crosssupport 17 is constructed of aflexible tubing which may be freely bent at will and since the edgeportions of the book support are universally connected as at 20 as by aball and socket connection, for example, there is provided a universalmounting for the book support assembly by which said assembly may beturned to any desired position for convenient viewing with a bookapplied to said support resting upon the ledge 23.

It is contemplated that the universal connection 20 is assembled withsuch friction that the book support assembly once angularly adjustedwill remain in such adjusted position for convenient use.

It is contemplated under some conditions that a reinforcement may berequired for the support of crosssupport 15-17.

For this purpose there is provided upon the rear of the clamp base 13tube clamp 29, friction fastener 30, which adjustably receives thevertically extending bracing tube 31, which mounts the guide means 32 atits upper ends, such as a pulley or the like.

The holder 33 is adjustably secured upon the flexible support 15, FIG.1, and a suitable cord or wire 34 at one free end is secured to holder33, extends over the guide means 32, through the tube 31 and is securedas at 35 to the extension 36 on the clamp base.

By the present construction and employing the flexible support 15 andthe flexible tube cross-support 17 as well as the universal mountings 16and 20, the present book support assembly can be conveniently adjustedto various positions of use or non-use as desired to suit theconvenience of the person reading from and employing the book supportassembly.

In the illustrative embodiment the device is shown as mounted upon aheadboard. It is contemplated that it could be mounted upon any otherarticle of furniture which provides a convenient means for holdingreading material without requiring the users hands.

The auxiliary support employing the bracing tube 31 is advantageous inthose situations where the weight of the book mounted is such thatauxiliary reinforcement is helpful to maintain the pre-determinedadjusted position of the book support assembly in two or threedimensions.

Clips 26 also support a writing pad 37 on the rear surface of platformelement 25, for use by rotating the assembly degrees.

Having described my invention reference should now be had to thefollowing claims.

I claim:

1. A bookholder comprising a clamp base adapted for securing to a bedheadboard or other article of furniture;

an elongated support of flexible tube material at one end universallymounted upon said clamp base;

an elongated cross-support of flexible tube material intermediate itsends connected to the other end of said tube support;

the ends of the cross-support being reverse-curved inwardly in opposedrelation;

a book support assembly including a bottom ledge adjustably interposedbetween the ends of said crosssupport;

means universally connecting side portions of said book support assemblyto the ends of said cross-support;

said latter connections being sufliciently tight as to secure the booksupport at the desired angular position for convenient usage;

and flexible clips on the book support assembly adapted to retaininglyengage a book or other reading material thereon.

2. In the bookholder of claim 1, a lamp mounted on the book supportassembly, including a wire extending through said flexible tube support.

3. In the bookholder of claim 1, said book support assembly including abase;

opposed channel guides adjacent its top and bottom at the rear thereof;

and an extension plate movably mounted in said channels adapted forlateral adjustments to regulate the 20 effective widthof said booksupport assembly.

4. In the bookholder of claim 1, a tube clamp on said References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS 1,083,764 1/1914 Smith 248-445 1,916,667 7/ 1933Hoogendyk 248445 2,538,318 1/1951 Mitchell 248455 X FOREIGN PATENTS524,002 7/1940 Great Britain. 543,073 5/ 1956 Italy.

CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Primary Examiner.

1. A BOOKHOLDER COMPRISING A CLAMP BASE ADAPTED FOR SECURING TO A BEDHEADBOARD OR OTHER ARTICLE OF FURNITURE; AN ELONGATED SUPPORT OFFLEXIBLE TUBE MATERIAL AT ONE END UNIVERSALLY MOUNTED UPON SAID CLAMPBASE; AN ELONGATED CROSS-SUPPORT OF FLEXIBLE TUBE MATERIAL INTERMEDIATEITS ENDS CONNECTED TO THE OTHER END OF SAID TUBE SUPPORT; THE ENDS OFTHE CROSS-SUPPORT REVERSE-CURVED INWARDLY IN OPPOSED RELATION; A BOOKSUPPORT ASSEMBLY INCLUDING A BOTTOM LEDGE ADJUSTABLY INTERPOSED BETWEENTHE ENDS OF SAID CROSSSUPPORT;